After Abū ʿUbayda conquered Ḥimṣ, he sent Khālid b. al-Walīd to Kinnesrin. When Khālid arrived, the townspeople and the Christian Arabs rose up against him. Khālid fought them and killed many. He killed the Byzantines there and their commander, Mitas. The Bedouins apologized, declaring by way of bayān (clear exposition) that they had not participated in this battle based on their own opinion. Khālid accepted their excuse and did not harm them, then entered the city. The townspeople took refuge in the fortresses. Khālid said to them:
– Even if you ascend to the skies and settle within the clouds, Allah will bring us to you, or bring you down to us upon the earth.
He continued to engage with them. Finally, Allah granted Khālid the conquest of the place. Praise be to Allah. When ʿUmar heard of Khālid’s valor in this battle, he said:
– May Allah have mercy on Abū Bakr. He knew and recognized men better than I. By Allah, I did not remove Khālid from his post due to any doubt. Rather, I feared that people would believe everything came from Khālid and not from Allah.
In this year, Heraclius withdrew with his soldiers and went from the borderlands to Byzantine territories. According to the account of Sayf b. ʿUmar, the Battle of Kinnesrin took place in the sixteenth year of the Hijra.
It is said: Whenever Heraclius went to Jerusalem for pilgrimage and returned, he would look upon the lands of Syria and say: "O Syria! I bid you farewell and surrender you. Yet I did not attain my aim in you." Heraclius departed from the lands of Damascus and went to Urfa. He asked the people of Urfa to accompany him to Byzantium. They
replied:
– It will be more beneficial for us to remain here than to go with you. Upon this, Heraclius left them in Urfa. When he reached Shemshan, he ascended a high hill and, turning toward Bayt al-Maqdis, said:
"Peace be upon you, O Syria! Peace, never to meet again! From now on, no Byzantine will enter you without fear, unless an accursed child is born. Would that such a child never be born." How fine was Heraclius’s conduct, yet how great a calamity for the Byzantines. Heraclius then continued on his way and arrived in Constantinople, where he continued his reign. He questioned a man who had been captured with the Muslims:
– Tell me about these Muslims.
The man replied:
– I will describe them to you as if you were watching them. By day they fight, and by night they worship like monks. They do not consume anything in their trust until they have paid its due. Whenever they enter a place, they always give salām (greeting of peace). They do not approach those they are to fight, unless those people come to them.
– If you have spoken the truth, then they will possess the very ground upon which my two feet stand."
I say: The Muslims besieged Constantinople (Istanbul) during the Umayyad era, but they did not conquer it. As we have recounted in the work "Kitāb al-Malāḥim," in the end times the Muslims will possess it. On this matter, there are authentic ḥadīth (prophetic traditions) transmitted from the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and the works of other ḥadīth scholars. Praise and gratitude be to Allah.
Allah has forbidden the Byzantines from ever possessing the lands of Damascus until the end of time. As is established in the authentic collections of Bukhārī and Muslim, in a ḥadīth narrated from Abū Hurayra, the Messenger of God said:
"After Kisrā is killed, there will be no other Kisrā. After Qaysar is killed, there will be no other Qaysar. By Him in Whose hand is my soul, you will spend the treasures of Qaysar and Kisrā in the way of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic."
As far as I can see, this glad tiding of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) has been entirely fulfilled. And what he foretold will certainly come to pass: the rule of the Qaysars will never enter Damascus. For the word Qaysar, according to the Arabs, is a generic name given to those who possess the Byzantine lands along with Damascus. The rule of Damascus will never fall into the hands of the Qaysars.